What is a Haunting? Most people think of a haunting as a
place, or sometimes an object such as a piece of furniture, that is occupied or
"possessed" by "ghosts" of "spirits." People
generally consider a place "haunted" if there has been a history of
apparitional sightings, or if unexplained noises, movements of objects, or
other strange physical effects repeatedly occur there. Even when people
repeatedly "pick up" or sense eerie feelings or "bad vibes"
from a place or an object it is often considered "haunted." However,
these experiences may or may not be actual hauntings. Most parapsychologists
consider hauntings to be "recordings" of past events that are
repetitiously "replayed" and "decoded" by those sensitive
enough to perceive them. In other words, an event that occurs in a certain
place is somehow recorded and stored in a manner not yet understood, and later
circumstances "trigger" the event recording to be
"replayed." The environment acts as a sort of audio/video recorder,
and like a tape player with the right buttons pressed, the event continues to
be replayed at any time the playback or trigger conditions are met. In similar
fashion, an object may contain and then flashback the memory or record of past
events or people that have surrounded it or owned it (this ability to
"read" an object's history is called psychometry).

Haunting Apparitions: Since hauntings seem to be repeating
performance of recorded past events, the characters involved are part of the
recording and their actions are replayed over and over again. The scene and the
action do not typically change from showing to showing. The haunting repeats
itself like a cinema that bills the same movie for decades. The characters of a
haunting are often called "haunting apparitions," but they are not
considered true apparitions because they do not seem to possess consciousness,
intelligence or personality. True apparitions or ghosts reportedly act like
living people with personality, emotions and intelligence, and the capacity to
interact with witnesses. In other words, communication and interaction is
possible with a ghost, but a haunting apparition is simply part of the
"recording" (and interaction is not possible).

The Nature of Hauntings: How and why past
events are recorded and replayed repetitiously is not understood. Whatever the
actual mechanism, it apparently possesses longevity as the encore performances
of a haunting can continue for decades or longer. Generally, the haunting is a
fragment or portion of an actual event. Reported hauntings are predominantly of
events that involved tragedy, death or emotional trauma. However, this may be
more of a reporting artifact that anything else, given that people tend to report
and ask for help in situations where they are scared or impacted with negative
emotions. The recordings of mundane or even positive events that may play back
in hauntings are usually ignored or simply accepted with a smile. Not so with
negative or tragic events. Some researchers have suggested that there is a
relationship between hauntings and the electromagnetic or magnetic fields that
exist in the natural environment. This concept considers that all events are
recorded, but that it is the events with stronger emotional content
(essentially "louder" or "brighter" than everyday
happenings) that are "sensed" or perceived more readily. Recent case
investigations using a magnetometer to detect background and local magnetic fields
have indicated an unusual and exciting correlation between
higher-than-background magnetic fields and spots in a haunted location where
people perceive the haunts. Though classic "haunted house" stories
have captured the bulk of public attention, hauntings are also reported outdoors,
as with those reported at old battle sites. Objects can also be haunted,
holding a recording of events and people that have historically associated with
the object.

Witnessing a Haunting: The ability to
"decode" the recording of a past event is a psychic ability known as
psychometry, a subset of clairvoyant ability. Witnessing a haunting seems to
depend not only on psychic ability, but also on the strength of the recording
(and this may be related to the emotional content of the event recorded). Moods
and emotions of observers also play a role, as do "play-back"
conditions. While not well understood or even correlated as yet, these
conditions appear to include time of day, weather patterns, geomagnetic (the
Earth's) field intensity, and even
lunar/tidal and other astronomical influences. If conditions are right, the
haunting is "decoded" and the brain/mind of the observer experiences
a playback of the events. Different people experience the same haunting in
different ways. For some, the experience is visual, for others auditory, for
still others kinesthetic (as in "feeling" a presence). People may
even smell aspects of the haunting. For many, there is a combination of
sense-relations in the perceptions of the haunting. Most often, the haunting is
"seen" by the mind's eye. When this happens, the image appears to be
three-dimensional and looks much like a hologram that is superimposed onto the
present day surroundings. This superimposition of the psychic image onto the
actual setting can make for strange visual effects. As an example, the haunting
may be of someone climbing a staircase, whereas the actual, now remodeled
physical setting has no staircase in that location but a wall instead. In this
case, the haunting apparition would appear to walk upward into thin air and
pass through a wall. Because hauntings are experienced at the perceptual level
(in the mind), there are no actual images and sound there that reflect light or
create sound waves, and therefore nothing to be photographed, videotaped, or
recorded. Whether or not a haunting is witnessed, the anxiety and heightened
expectancy experienced by people who believe they are at a "haunted"
site can trigger observer effects. These observer effects can be a combination
of misperceptions and misidentifications of ordinary happenings and unusual
physical object movements. The unusual physical activity is typically a result
of unconscious psychokinesis, mind over matter (PK), and is not directly
related to the haunting phenomena. In other words, the witnesses cause the PK
effects, which can include strange noises, lights, and object movements. These
physical effects are generally confused with the perceptual effects of the
haunting or are attributed to ghosts.

Practical Problem Solving:In investigating a reported haunting,
multiple/independent witnesses to the haunting are sought. Extensive
interviewing of witnesses and participants is undertaken in order to assess
each person's experience, and to try to determine if there is a pattern to the
perceptions of the events. Because hauntings are easily confused with other
paranormal phenomena, and with more normal noises in the environment, it must
first be determined what phenomenon (or combination of phenomena) is happening.
As mentioned, true apparitions are often confused with haunting apparitions.
Also, PK effects or poltergeist phenomena can cause unexplained physical
effects that are often confused with or triggered by the experience of a haunting.
Good, bad or strange "vibes" felt repeatedly in a certain location
could be the result of a haunting, or could be related to the way the place is
decorated or even the way it's constructed (as with the various "Mystery
Spots" around the US which play on your perceptions). If a haunting is
suspected, an historical study of the location is generally undertaken in an
attempt to correlate the experience with actual past events. Investigators may
also bring in magnetically sensitive detectors to look for correlations between
the experiences and unusual or unlikely magnetic fields. Psychic practitioners
may also be brought in as a form of "detector" to flesh out the
experiences and potential patterns. Toward Resolution: In the case of a
haunting, witnesses typically experience fear, anxiety, and long-term stress.
For this reason, an ongoing primary theme of the investigation involves
teaching witnesses the innocuous nature of hauntings. Because hauntings and
haunting apparitions are recordings, fear and anxiety are unnecessary as there
is no connection or interaction possible between witnesses and any aspect of
the haunting (any more than there is if there's a scary movie on the TV). Often
clients wish to discontinue the haunting, or to stop experiencing it. In many
cases "removal" of a haunting is akin to getting used to living next
to a busy highway --- before long, the noise fades into the background or is
not even noticed. Other "psychic shielding" techniques can be taught
so that the experience may be blocked from perception. In addition, psychic
practitioners have been known to affect hauntings. Finally, one might
"tape over" the recorded haunt-event, whereby the haunting location
becomes the site of some positive, emotionally charged event such as a fun
party or other "good vibes" situation.